Sovereign Bones : New Native American Writing

by Gansworth, Eric

• ISBN13: 9781568583570
• ISBN10: 1568583575
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-10-22
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

Sovereign Bones is an exploration of indigenous peoples and how they have managed to maintain separate identities, in spite of their assimilation into the broader American culture. Edited by Eric Gansworth, this collection of original writing focuses on the key role that writers and visual artists have played in the struggle of native peoples to retain their individual identities. In personal essays, memoir, and historical reflections, each writer explores the ways in which they arrived at their work and how they have retained a traditional way of life in that work. Taken as a whole, Sovereign Bones is a testimony to the resilience of indigenous cultures and the integral contributions artists make to that survival. Featured authors include: Marijo Moore, Louise Erdrich, Alex Jacobs, Heid Erdrich, Maurice Kenny, Diane Glancy, Jeanette Weaskus, Simon Ortiz.

Author Biography

Eric Gansworth is a writer and teacher whose work has been included in many fiction and nonfiction anthologies. He is currently works as Professor of English at Canisius College, Buffalo, NY.

Table of Contents

Images List
Acknowledgments
Foreword: Perspectives
Introduction: Sovereign to the Bone	p. 1
An Opening: From Big Medicine from Six Nations	p. 11
Repatriating Ourselves
Taking Aim - New Directions in Tribal Media	p. 23
The Indian List	p. 25
Ridge Notes, Summer 2006	p. 33
Why Do I Continue to Write? An Exhaustive Questioning	p. 47
In Vine Veritas	p. 57
Creation Story	p. 69
From the Reservation to Dawn of the Dead to James Dickey and Back Again	p. 79
Haksod	p. 89
Speaking through Our Nations' Teeth
From the Prayer of Thanksgiving	p. 97
Writers on Writing; Two Languages in Mind, But Just One in the Heart	p. 101
Wooden Heart, Dopwin, Language Table	p. 107
The Source of the Drive for My Language Work	p. 117
A Ghost Dance for Words	p. 129
Indigenous Language Consciousness: Being, Place, and Sovereignty	p. 135
Marrow Memory	p. 149
The Meaning of the Music I Sing	p. 157
Snagging the Eye from Curtis
SAMO = More the Same Ole Samo	p. 167
The Unauthorized Autobiography of Me	p. 171
Head Shots	p. 187
It Won't Play - There's Not Enough Indians	p. 195
Transitions in Haudenosaunee Realities: The Changing World of the Haudenosaunee as Seen in Historic Photographs	p. 203
Old Stories from the New World	p. 219
Marry a Decent Girl	p. 225
The Story of a Cultural Arts Worker Artist	p. 229
The Bones of the Sky	p. 239
Rolling Those Sovereign Bones
A New Enemy	p. 251
Comings and Goings in Indian Country: Spiraling from a Blog	p. 253
The Native American Moves Into Contemporary Literature: Discovering a Voice Which May Not Be New But Is Authentic	p. 265
E-Socials: Cultural Collaboration in the Age of the Electronic Inter-Tribal	p. 275
Throwing Moccasins	p. 281
From Betty Creek: Writing the Indigenous Deep South	p. 287
Beyond Repatriation	p. 295
Studio Sweeps and Rendering the Fatback	p. 303
Contributors	p. 315
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